The US President pulled no punches when it came to his assessment of BP's handling of, what has become, the third worst oil spill of all time depositing the equivalent of 22,000 cars worth of oil into the sea every day.
In an interview with NBC, Mr Obama was asked about comments Mr Hayward made in the wake of the disaster, such as "I want my life back" and the Gulf is "a big ocean".
Mr Obama said: "He wouldn't be working for me after any of those statements."
He said he had visited the Louisiana coast "so I know whose ass to kick".
So how bad is it - well the infographic below shows just how bad
